[ { "id": 204289, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 57, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n53\n\nthe failure of subscribers to return the books on leaving the country-so that there is a large space occupied by books that are of little value to the Society, or to the public. I would recommend that the Library be inspected, and that those books which are not worth binding anew should be disposed of, and the proceeds be devoted to rebinding those that are worth keeping. In this way, the library will be freed from a good deal of trash, and the really valuable part of it, which is by no means small, could be more easily accommodated in the apartment designed for it, and better fitted for the use of subscribers.\n\nThe reports of the Society for 1844, 1845 and 1846 do not specifically mention the Library, but it is interesting to note that at a meeting of the subscribers in January 1846 it was unanimously resolved, \"That a bust of the late Hon. J. R. Morrison (who had also died, at the early age of 29 in 1843) be immediately commissioned from England, to be placed in the public rooms of the institution of the Morrison Education Society; that a copy of Chinnery's painting of his father (the late Rev. Dr. Morrison) engaged in the translation of the Bible into Chinese, be obtained for the same purpose; that the sum of $1,000 be appropriated to meet the cost, and the expense of placing these memorials in China.\n\nBy 1849 the Society was running into financial difficulties, the premises had to be closed and the Library was packed up. By 1855 it was open to the public again when, according to an advertisement appearing in the Hong Kong Register on 30 October, 1855, \"The Library of the Morrison Education Society, now deposited in a room in the Court House, is open every day from 1 to 4 o'clock p.m. to Members of the Society for the giving out and exchange of Books. Parties, not members of the Society, may obtain the advantages of the Library, on payment of an Annual Subscription of $5. By order of the Trustees, James Legge, Secretary.”\n\nAt the annual meeting of the Society in 1858 the question of the permanent disposal of the Library was scheduled for discussion. In this same year they had accepted on trust a collection of 400 books belonging to the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society which had been founded in Hong Kong in 1847 by Sir John Davis, later revived by Sir John Bowring, but which was now defunct. A report of the founding of the Asiatic Society appears in the Hong Kong Register for 1847 with a list of 44 titles of books, prints, etc., which had been presented.\n\nThere had been a growing demand for a proper public library and in May, 1863, the Morrison Education Society issued a circular urging the foundation of such a library in a City Hall and offering its own books and those of the Royal Asiatic Society", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204341, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 109, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n105\n\nBecause of their limited resources monasteries in Hong Kong have never been able to act as is'ung lam, that is, public monasteries which on the mainland made it their obligation to accept all wandering monks. There has been and is no religious obligation for Hong Kong monasteries to receive refugees or visitors. They are private institutions and a stranger, even though he is an ordained monk in good standing, can be refused admission. There have, however, been some monasteries here (notably the Tung Pu Toh) that did manage to shelter hundreds of refugee monks in the years immediately following 1950, and they have been much admired for so doing. Most of these monks have since emigrated to Taiwan.\n\nOne of the problems facing the Sangha in Hong Kong is how to maintain its size. While the number of lay Buddhists is growing, the Sangha is not. Only the Po Lin Tsz performs ordination. Other monasteries do not have the equipment and personnel required. The South China Buddhist Academy (at the Wong Faat Tsing She), which was the only seminary in the Colony, has ceased to function because there were not enough candidates for the rigorous training it offered. It may be that the atmosphere in Hong Kong does not favour the development of the attitudes that best lead a young man to take refuge in the Three Jewels. If his only reason for accepting the hardship of monastery life is to escape greater hardship outside the monastery, he is unlikely to have the diligence necessary for seeking enlightenment or to contribute much in the way of helping others to seek it. The Sangha faces the danger of decline both in size and quality.\n\nIV. GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION\n\nThe Chinese Temples Ordinance, passed in 1928 to protect the public from extortion and fraud which were then becoming more prevalent in the urban areas, deals with places of Chinese worship open to the public where fees or other charges are levied. Such temples are placed under the control of a statutory Chinese Temples Committee, consisting of leading Chinese citizens with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs as the chairman and the only government member. The Committee can require the transfer of any temple falling within the provisions of the Ordinance and all its property, without compensation, to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs' titular ownership. Five old temples are specifically excluded from the operations of this Ordinance; a sixth one, the Man Mo Temple in Hollywood Road, often used by film companies, has for over 50 years had a separate Ordinance of its own placing it under the control of the Tung Wah Hospitals; the administrative and financial supervision of seven others is delegated by the Temples Committee to the Tung Wah Hospitals. The Temples Committee at present directly administers 36 temples,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204381, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1962", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "should like to appeal to other merchant houses and individuals in the Colony, who probably need only to have the nature and needs of the Society made known to them to follow the generous example of our first benefactors. In the second place, the greater part of the amount of about $7,000 now in hand will soon be needed to cover the cost of the production and distribution of the Journal Vol. II, to a free copy of which each member is entitled by virtue of his subscription. We also urgently need a public address system, made necessary by the steadily increasing size of our audiences. We shall have to consider the purchase of projectors and apparatus for the exhibition of colour slides with which many lectures are now illustrated. Hitherto we have been fortunate in that we have been furnished with all the necessary equipment by the British Council, to whom and to their projectionists I wish to tender the thanks and appreciation of the Society. Furthermore, until now the British Council Room has been our home ever since the first preliminary meeting of the Society in 1959, and all except three or four of our meetings have been held here. Our lecture expenses in 1961 amounted to only $213.75, and most of this sum was incurred when a larger room had to be taken in the Hong Kong Club. Without the generous help of the British Council and its Representative here, Mr. R. E. Lawry, who is our Honorary Secretary, in placing this room and all its amenities at our disposal free of charge the Society could not have been in the financial position it is in today. On behalf of the Society I wish to express our deep appreciation to the British Council and to Mr. Lawry and his staff for all they have done in giving the Society a home for now over two years, and in the absence of a home of our own we hope that the Council will continue its generous support.\n\nFinally, there is one other matter of expenditure we have to consider—the building up of a library. We are already in touch with many learned societies all over the world who send us their journals and publications, usually in exchange for copies of our own Journal. These will form a valuable nucleus of a collection. We need and appeal for money and gifts of books to build up an Oriental Library worthy of the Society, a collection of books and periodicals which we hope may serve to supplement the more general library of the City Hall and which can be made available for research study and reading not only to members", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204709, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1964", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "3\n\nThe expedition to Tung Chung produced a new inspiration for the Society's activities, mainly the idea of our admirable Hon. Secretary, Mr. R. E. Lawry. It is proposed to hold a symposium during weekends to discuss the social organisation of village life and other aspects of life in the New Territories. A programme has been arranged for the weekend May 9th-10th, particulars of which have already been supplied to members. This extension of our activities is in accord with the avowed objects of the Society for it is our aim to direct attention not only to the cultural and literary heritage of the part of Asia in which we live, but also to practical pursuits such as its natural history, fauna and flora, and the lives of the people around us.\n\nA particularly noteworthy and important work of the Society is the production of the Journal, the fourth volume of which may be expected this summer. The Journal, built up on the meticulous standard of editorship set up by Mr. Cranmer-Byng and the Editorial Board of which, until his departure earlier this month, he had been Chairman, has already achieved a well-deserved reputation among the productions of learned societies in the same field. The contributions which come from non-members as well as members are sufficiently varied in nature and interest to appeal to the specialists as well as to the general reader. The Society may well be proud of its Journal and grateful to Mr. Cranmer-Byng and his colleagues for their splendid work and achievement.\n\nThe Financial Statement of 1963, which the Honorary Treasurer will present to you, shows a capital account of £1,699.10.0 and an apparent excess of income over expenditure of HK$2,947.26. The real position in the matter of income, however, is that the annual subscriptions from members during 1963 amounted to $6,177.91, while the expenses amounted to $7,459, leaving a deficit of $1,282. This deficit is met by recourse to income from the small capital investment fund, the greater part of which was established by the generosity of an anonymous donor, when the Branch was revived, for the purpose of establishing a library and for other capital expenditure necessary for the future activities of the Society and not for meeting current expenses. For the small annual subscription of $20, members receive, in addition to the benefit of the meetings during the year, a free copy of the Journal, which is sold to the public for HK$12. To place the Society on a sound", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204710, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1964", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "4\n\nfinancial basis it is essential that the membership should be considerably increased if the subscription is to remain at its present modest level which, so far as I can ascertain, is lower than that of any Branch of the Society. A serious aspect of the accounts is that out of a total number of 371 members there are 166 who have not yet paid their subscriptions for 1963. The subscriptions are due on the 1st January each year, but a margin of grace is allowed until June 30th. Some of those who have not paid have probably left the Colony; in the case of others it is probably a matter of forgetfulness or procrastination. As I stressed last year the Hon. Treasurer and the Hon. Secretary are both busy people who have neither the time nor the staff to continue to appeal to and to press members for payment and it would greatly lessen their burden if members made their subscriptions payable by banker's order or became life members.\n\nThe need for an increased membership has recently been emphasized by our Patron, Sir Robert Black, in a message which was authorised for circulation in support of the Society's appeal. A copy of this message, together with a brochure containing a synopsis of the history of the Hong Kong Branch of the Society, is now available to members who are asked to help by recruiting such of their friends and acquaintances as may be interested in the objects of the Society.\n\nThis month we are faced with a double loss of very serious import. Sir Robert Black who has been our Patron since the Branch was reconstituted will be leaving the Colony at the end of this month. Sir Robert has not only honoured the Society with his distinguished patronage, but both he and Lady Black have shown keen personal interest in the Society and in spite of the heavy calls on their time have been regular attendants at our meetings. They have helped to foster the growth of the Society during the first vital years of its revival and stimulated the interest of the public in the activities. At the beginning of the month Mr. Cranmer-Byng left the Colony to take up another appointment in Canada. He took a leading part in the re-establishment of the Hong Kong Branch in 1959, served on the Council until his departure and above all, it may truly be said that the Journal is a monument to his scholarship and editorial ability. His place will be exceedingly difficult to fill. The Rules of the Society", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204989, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1965", "page_number": 97, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "88 \n\nS. HUANG \n\nThe objectives of the Council were to raise standards in Chinese higher education; to develop joint policies where possible, to work for the achievement of objects of common interest; and to represent Member Colleges in joint negotiations with Government where common policy is concerned. \n\nThe Director of Education, then the Hon. D. J. S. Crozier, was informed of the organization of the Joint Council and he showed sympathy with its aims. Conferences between the Council, the Director of Education and Sir Christopher Cox, Educational Adviser to the Colonial Office, in 1957 offered the hope that there might be a possibility of Government support of a new university which would teach through the medium of Chinese, but only when the Colleges had achieved the necessary standards. \n\nSo in October, 1957, the Council appointed a Committee to discuss standards for admission and for graduation, standards of teaching staff, library provision and equipment, etc., and administration and control of the Colleges. Their recommendations were summarized in a Memorandum published in 1958. \n\nThe Memorandum was sympathetically received by the Government and finally a Committee composed of Mr. L. G. Morgan, then Deputy Director of Education, Dr. C. L. Chien of the Education Department, Dr. F. I. Tseung, then Chairman of the Joint Council and the President of United College, Dr. L. G. Kilborn of Chung Chi College, Dr. A. S. Lovett of New Asia College and Mr. J. C. L. Wong, then the Executive Secretary of the Council, was appointed to consider a Post-Secondary Colleges Ordinance, and Grant Regulations to define the conditions under which Government would give financial assistance to selected colleges. \n\nIn June 1959 Government announced a programme which made these following points: that a Chinese University with Chinese as the principal medium of instruction should be established; that financial aid would be given to the three colleges concerned to improve their standards; and that a commission would be appointed to recommend on the preparedness of the Colleges for university status. Financial assistance began that year, and in May 1960 the Post-Secondary Colleges Ordinance was enacted into law, giving Government power to proceed with its plans.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205709, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1969", "page_number": 15, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF COUNCILS\n\nAs things turned out, Gibb did not return to Hong Kong, and Ng Choy was therefore appointed on a three-year term. This appointment was unfortunately interpreted by some members of the British community as an attempt to create an anti-English party feeling in Hong Kong.\n\nIn May 1880 when one of the magistrates went on leave, the Governor replaced him temporarily by Ng Choy who thus became the first Chinese to hold a senior appointment in the Hong Kong Government. This led to a question in the House of Commons as to why Ng Choy should combine a paid official post with an unofficial seat in the Legislative Council; but by the time these explanations were required the original holder of the post had returned to the Colony.\n\nThe attitude of the British community towards him and the Governor as a result of his appointment to the Legislative Council as well as this parliamentary question must have embarrassed Ng Choy very much. During this time, China having suffered repeated defeats from the hands of foreign powers, there was a movement in China to promote western technology and to modernize China, and any Chinese who had been trained or educated abroad would be welcome back to China. Thus when an invitation came from China for him to serve China, Ng Choy accepted it gladly. He left Hong Kong in 1882 before the expiry of the 3-year term in the Legislative Council, and later sent in his resignation from Tientsin.\n\nNg Choy became Secretary and Legal Adviser to Viceroy Li Hung-chang, one of the most important Chinese political figures of the time. Now known as Wu Ting-fang, he soon rose to become Chief Director of Railways and later Ambassador to the U.S.A. After the founding of the Chinese Republic in 1911, he held important appointments respectively as Minister of Judicial Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Financial Affairs. In 1917, when China entered the First World War, he was for a short time nominated as Premier. In 1922 he became Governor of Kwangtung and died the same year in office, soon after General Chan Kwing-ming's revolt in Canton.*\n\n* In his The Chinese (Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1909) p. 196, John Stuart Thomson praises Wu and styles him \"the Chesterfield of China in all the graces of speech and manners.\" Ed.\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206194, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1971", "page_number": 11, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "5\n\n+ + +\n\nthe attainment of the objects of the Society may be admitted by the Council to be Honorary Members. In the opinion of the Council, and I am sure it will be the unanimous opinion of the Annual General Meeting also, Dr. Jones qualifies for this highest award we have the power to bestow, on all these grounds.\n\n(c) on the 12th October, the Council agreed \"that should Mr. Hayes succeed in being able to go to the 28th International Conference of Orientalists in Canberra in the early part of January 1971, he would be the Society's Representative.\" (Arising out of this Mr. Hayes did represent us at Canberra, and on his return gave a talk, 15th February 1971, to the Society on the Conference.)\n\n(d) on 14th December, the Council decided that the President should write to the Chairman of the Select Committee of the Urban Council in support of the project that Hong Kong should have a proper museum on a suitable site. This letter was received by the Chairman and his Committee with great pleasure and approval.*\n\nReports by the Hon. Treasurer and the Hon. Librarian, concerning financial and library matters, will be tabled separately later in this meeting.\n\nMembership. The total number of members on the books of the Society at the end of 1970 was 501. The number of new members joining during the year was 39 (1 Life Member and 38 Ordinary Members), while our loss in membership was 22 (2 deceased, 20 resigned), making a net gain in membership for the year of 17.\n\nThe contacts recently made between some of our members either personally or officially and other organizations in the Orient with aims similar to ours, continues. Examples were the visit from members of the Korean branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in November last, and also the contacts recently made between ourselves on the one hand and the 28th International Congress of Orientalists at Canberra, and the National Association of Historians of Asia in Manila,† on the other.\n\n* Subsequently a letter was also sent to the Honourable Colonial Secretary: this is reproduced at pp. 7-8.\n\n† Attended by the President.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206227, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1971", "page_number": 44, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "38\n\nCHIU LING-YEONG\n\npower. However, she lacks a capable general to command this gigantic military force. To rely upon a tremendous number of soldiers without a brilliant commander is, in fact, unreliable...\n\n+\n\nThe most authoritative comment on Tseng's article was from Sir Rutherford Alcock, the former British Minister to China. He gave his opinion in the April issue of the Asiatic Quarterly Review, that China was not already awake, as Tseng had described in his work. He emphasized that the army and navy built up by Li Hung-chang could hardly be the equal of those of European powers. Alcock suggested that China must launch immediate political and financial reforms before she could quickly build up a strong and efficient army or navy.\n\nAfter the publication of Tseng's article, Charles Denby, United States' Minister to China, in his dispatch to the State Secretary, Thomas F. Bayard, included a copy of Tseng's article together with his personal comments. Denby thought all the points listed in Tseng's article had to wait for quite a long time before they could be smoothly carried out. Denby believed that China had to work very hard for centuries before she could win a decisive battle against any of the European powers. As long as China could not build her own railways, it was beyond her ability to do anything further; for Denby thought that railways were the most important thing, if China wanted to carry out political, economical and military reforms.\n\nOf all the comments and criticisms, none were as constructive and concrete as Ho Kai's. After Ho Kai read Tseng's work, which appeared in the China Mail in Hong Kong on 8 February 1887, he immediately wrote a lengthy article and had it published in the same paper on 16 February 1887. In his letter addressed to the editor, he said:\n\nI read with great interest in your issue of the 8th instant, a remarkable article on ‘China — the Sleep and Awakening' purporting to have been written by the Marquis Tseng, which will (as was there stated) 'appear in the forthcoming number of the Asiatic Quarterly Review.' I do not intend to write exactly a critical review of this truly 'remarkable' article, but I am resolved to take this early opportunity to offer a few humble words in season to the noble Marquis", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206524, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1972", "page_number": 72, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "66\n\nHENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE\n\nIn 1889 Lockhart had married Edith Louise Rider Hancock, second daughter of Alfred Hancock,28 a Hong Kong bill and bullion broker, and he and his wife and two children moved in 1902 to their new home, Government House, at Ma-t'ou village, now renamed Port Edward. Ma-t'ou village had been originally the port of the old walled city of Weihaiwei29 and Government House was situated on a slight eminence overlooking Ma-t'ou village and divided from it only by an orchard planted by a Kew expert; there was not a fence anywhere. Port Edward was the centre of administration and contained the Government offices and the buildings occupied, until 1906, by the officers and men of the 1st Chinese Regiment of Infantry.30 But Port Edward was always very much of a 'pocket' capital, with only a handful of resident Europeans, mostly civil servants, and a few hundred Chinese merchants, craftsmen and fishermen.\n\nEqually the European community in Weihaiwei was always sparse, consisting of a few officials, merchants, and missionaries. With two or three exceptions all the Europeans resided on the small island of Liukung, where the native population was to a great extent drawn from the south-eastern provinces of China and from Japan. Liukung was only two-and-a-quarter miles long with a maximum breadth of seven-eighths of a mile but it became the headquarters of the permanent naval establishment and the site for the naval canteen (formerly a picturesque Chinese official yamên), the United Services Club, bungalows for summer visitors, a large hotel, and the offices of a few shipping firms. The several streets of shops were occupied mostly by Cantonese and Japanese.\n\n+\n\nIn 1903 there were only fourteen Europeans involved in the administration of Weihaiwei: the Civil Commissioner, the Secretary to Government, who also acted as magistrate, a financial assistant, three inspectors of police, two medical officers, one civil engineer, one foreman of works, two corporals, and two sappers of the Royal Engineers. The size of the establishment did not increase markedly over time, though an additional magistrate was procured. The Territory was divided by 1910 into two divisions, North and South. The North Division contained only nine of the twenty-six districts and was much smaller in both area and population than the South but it included the island of Liukung, where a small naval dockyard had been constructed, and Port Edward. It was under", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206528, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1972", "page_number": 76, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "70\n\nHENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE\n\ndepressed and the Grant-in-Aid was increased, but not to its original figure. Lockhart had received the administration of a territory that could never be a great financial success.\n\nExcept for two periods of leave, in 1909 and 1918, and short absences from the Territory, such as ceremonial visits to the Chinese Governor of Shangtung at Tsinan, Lockhart was continuously in charge for nearly nineteen years. Weihaiwei was an extremely healthy place, free of malaria, with a climate like that of a northern European country and Lockhart was able to indulge in the recreations he loved most. He rode nearly every day or played a round of golf on the mainland on Yuan Shih-k'ai's parade ground. The dedication to Lockhart of Johnston's book, Lion and Dragon in Northern China, reads: 'In memory of two moonlit nights at Lutao-k'uo, five frosty mornings at Pei-K'uo Temple and a hundred breezy gallops over the hills and sands of Weihaiwei.'\n\nIn 1904, Johnston, then Acting Assistant Colonial Secretary at Hong Kong, had been appointed to Weihaiwei and the two men, who had worked together previously in Hong Kong, soon became close friends. In 1919 Johnston accepted an appointment as tutor to the ex-Emperor of China, P'ü-i,37 and Lockhart in his report for that year spoke of the 'great loss to the service. He had served uninterruptedly in Weihaiwei since 1904 and had proved himself an officer of exceptional administrative capacity, his intimate knowledge of the Chinese, their customs, and their language having won for him a high place in the esteem of the native population with which his duties brought him into such intimate contact.'38 They were both Scots but their friendship, it would seem, was based not on tribalism but on a mutual admiration for Chinese civilisation.\n\nLockhart left Weihaiwei on 23 April, 1921, on H.M. Ship Cairo, a passage having been placed at his disposal by the Commander-in-Chief, China Station. His popularity with all classes of the Chinese population 'was evidenced by the erection of two \"Pei\" (commemorative tablets) in his honour and the presentation of numerous addresses and scrolls, two \"myriad name\" umbrellas, one dress of \"myriad name robes\" and a bowl of pure water (the symbol of purity of administration).'39\n\nLockhart had been popular mainly because he understood the Chinese and left them alone. As he wrote: \"There is in China a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206734, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 11, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "5\n\nour application for acceptance as a constituent Society was agreed by the Arts Centre, and we will have a nominated member of our Council on its Management Committee on all future occasions it meets to discuss plans for facilities.\n\nThe two tours held during the year were organised by two of your officers. One, to the Chinese University, was arranged by Mr. D. A. Gilkes, Honorary Treasurer. The other, to places of historical interest in the Pokfulum area, was arranged by Mr. James Hayes, Vice-President and Honorary Editor. Both events appear to have been very successful.\n\nIn November we had our 5th symposium which took place as usual at The Hong Kong Club--one of the few moderately priced places appropriate for this kind of event in Hong Kong. The subject was \"Hong Kong: Chinese Tradition and the Development of a Town\" and papers were read by people either actively involved in original research, or in the practical aspects of their subjects. It was accompanied by an exhibition of photographs arranged with the kind help of the City Hall staff, and an exhibition of ritual paraphernalia connected with Triad Societies, provided by the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in conjunction with a paper read by one of its officers. The very useful material emerging at this symposium will be published in our brochure series. The material from our previous symposium on the botany of Hong Kong is in process of publication, and this coming week-end we will have our 6th symposium, on Hong Kong Fauna, organised by Professor B. Lofts of the Department of Zoology, University of Hong Kong.\n\nSince the end of the last calendar year several other events have already taken place and might be mentioned here. The first meeting of this year, at which Mr. James Watt of your Council spoke on recent archeological discoveries in China, was attended by our Patron, Sir Murray Maclehose and Lady Maclehose. A very successful tour to Thailand was organised by Mr. Smithies, who has been our Honorary Secretary for the past financial year. It was preceded by a panel presentation on Thailand in which Mr. Smithies participated, together with Mr. James Watt, and the Royal Thai Consul General. Nineteen members and their guests attended the tour itself, which took place over the Chinese New Year in February. I am pleased to report that the event was a great social success, those taking part organising a party on their return.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206759, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 36, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "30 \n\nA. J. S. LACK \n\nAt the first intimation of the storm all local craft sought shelter where they could, there was thus a shortage of craft in the harbour available for working ships, and he thought that if ample additional accommodation were provided, preferably on the west side of the harbour, the shipping of the port would be relieved of much of the inconvenience and loss which the present conditions give rise to at such times. \n\nThe official response to this resolution was given by the acting Colonial Secretary who said that the Government was fully aware of the need for new accommodation such as was indicated in the resolution, only lack of funds had been the difficulty hitherto, but steps had now been taken to obtain definite plans for the construction of a harbour of refuge at the west end of the harbour. This was greeted with applause, as was his further statement that the Government had no objection to passing the resolution. \n\nHowever, the subject was not mentioned again in the Legislative Council until the following September, when the Finance Committee was advised it was regretted it had not been possible to include any sum for the construction of a harbour of refuge in the Estimates of Expenditure for the coming year. The matter had received consideration but owing to the large requirements of other works it had not been found possible to include it. \n\nThus 1904 passed without action on the proposed shelter and most of 1905 also, but late in that year things did begin to move. Sir Mathew Nathan*, the Governor at that time, delivered a very long speech to the Legislative Council which gave an estimate of the Colony's probable financial position on 31st December, 1905, in which he listed a large number of projects intended to be embarked upon. Amongst these he referred to the provision of a typhoon shelter for the increasing number of junks which had now prematurely to leave their work to ensure not being shut out of the limited accommodation in Causeway Bay. That reference to the proposed shelter was welcomed by Honourable Members at a subsequent meeting. However, by the early part of 1906 it was clear that the proposed typhoon shelter was likely to remain among the projects to be embarked upon \"only when the financial situation of the Colony allowed it.\" \n\n*1862-1939, Governor of Hong Kong 1904-1907.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207246, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 14, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "mainly to have more permanent venue for lectures, council meetings and even possibly a library—we are inhibited from expanding our book collection mainly from lack of space. The raised subscription for Society membership to $50 was in response to the cost of our membership of the Centre. So far our membership has already brought tangible benefits in the form of increased publicity and joint presentations and it is expected this trend will continue. The Society has also had a representative (your Treasurer) on the Management Committee and he has been in a position to ensure that the Society's interests are taken into account in all decisions about functions and facilities. There have been several constitutional changes in the Hong Kong Arts Centre, details of which need not be elaborated here: suffice to say that the Hong Kong Arts Centre is now established under an Ordinance with a board of management, and that the Committee structure is now more clearly defined. The Hong Kong Arts Centre is now being built and is expected to be completed by early 1977 depending on the financial situation. Your Society hopes to be in a position to rent a small room in the Centre for members to use and to house our library. We are continuing to keep a watch on developments.\n\nTHE PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY\n\nOne of our newest ventures has been the photographic survey of old buildings and scenes representing the traditional cultural life of the Colony. A comprehensive report has been tabled at this meeting. Your Council, particularly your Hon. Secretary, Mr. Ian Diamond who provided the impetus for this project, initiated the survey to provide as coherent a pictorial record as possible of the main visual features of urban and rural Hong Kong. It is hoped it will be of value to research workers. The survey has been undertaken in close cooperation with members of the Photographic section of the South China Athletic Association which has not only given generous financial assistance but supplied many volunteers from among its members to undertake the photographic work involved. I would like to take the opportunity of expressing our thanks to them now. A small exhibition consisting of a selection from among the photographs taken during the year has been prepared for this meeting. We hope you will find it interesting and a worthwhile project for us to engage in.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207499, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 267, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n259\n\narrived accompanied by interpreters and the Japanese sent in 3000 packets of cigarettes, 12 bottles of saki, 36 tins of coffee, 40 kilos of salt, 180 kilos of sugar, 240 tins of milk, 48 kilos of butter and a sack of coffee beans. We were now doing very well because Major Crewe a R.A.S.C. officer came from Sham Shui Po to learn what supplies we needed and brought with him 26 pints of fresh milk which we gratefully received. Mr. C.E. D'Almeida brought us a gramophone and records and other gifts from 10 Ice House Street, and promised us supplies of drugs free which he was going to send over. A refrigerator and five bread tins came from the Red Cross in Hong Kong and I was told that stores were arriving the next day from Sham Shui Po for us to split between internees, Indian prisoners and ourselves. The internees numbered about 300, including sick and about 30 children. I was able to meet a request from Sham Shui Po for various regulations including Kings Regulations and Financial Instructions.\n\nOn 22 August we arranged with Colonel Field for all our Q.A. sisters to return, and Saito and Sekiguchi came to ask what they could do. The Governor of Hong Kong had been removed from the Colony by the Japanese and Mr. Gimson who had been Colonial Secretary at the time of our capitulation came with Mr. Nakimura from the Japanese Foreign Affairs Department. Major Lamb R.A.S.C. had been appointed to take charge of supplies and his policy was for us to rely upon Japanese rations supplemented by Red Cross stores and to indent on Sham Shui Po for our additional needs. A radio, with some mugs and gifts of milk were gratefully received by us from Mr. C.E. D'Almeida and gifts also came from Messrs. Ruttonjee of 11 Duddell Street. Eight of our civilians left for Stanley with Mr. Gimson and were delighted to go. The radio was working well indeed and on 23 August I asked Dr. Selwyn-Clarke to get us some vegetables, fruit, invalid jellies and flour. I telephoned Nomura about our records and on 24 August I wrote to Colonel Tokunaga formally requiring the return of our hospital records. Mr. Campbell and I presented this letter to him personally at Japanese headquarters in the presence of Nomura. I said that we held Tokunaga personally responsible and he accepted the letter.\n\nA batch of 19 visitors arrived from Stanley including two children, and we had to put them up overnight because of stormy weather in the harbour. British headquarters now required us to set out prominently a sign, \"P.W.\" each letter to be 20 feet by 20", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208563, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 20, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "the future we hope it may be possible to organise a small group to visit cultural sites in Thailand (e.g. Chiangmai, Pimai, Sukhothai and Ban Chiang). December might be particularly convenient in view of the projected Hong Kong-Chiangmai direct service by Thai International from April 1. Another small group may be able to visit South Korea at Easter 1980, in cooperation with the Korean Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Plans for these visits have to be made many months in advance and many members have found it necessary in the past to withdraw after initial arrangements have been made. Some sixteen members, for example, withdrew from the proposed Darjeeling-Sikkim visit after payment of deposits which were fully refunded. But this entailed a substantial amount of rearrangement of aircraft, hotels, ground transport, and so forth. Although recent and forthcoming excursions are arranged on a 'break even' basis for the Society, they are at considerably less cost to participants than for individual travel; and it may be necessary to consider levying some non-refundable service charge in future to protect the Society's financial interests. I would like to thank Dr. Shaw for all the time and effort he has put into these excursion arrangements and I am sure those who have participated would wish me to do so. Janie Thomas of Urbis Planning Design has also offered to include interested members of our Society in a trip she is planning for later this year to Shanghai and Peking. All except our very recently joined members have been circulated with information about her proposals.\n\nPublications\n\nWork continues for our proposed publication of photographs with text of old Hong Kong buildings. Many of the buildings photographed — by members of your Council and friends — have since been demolished. Mr. Tony Rydings has played a very active role in this project together with Mr. Ian Diamond. We are now, so to speak, on the home stretch in this publication project with approximately three-quarters of the text assembled and the photographs in place. We would like also to thank Dr. Solomon Bard, Executive Secretary, Antiquities and Monuments Section, Urban Services Department, for much material assistance with the project.\n\nThe 1977 Journal is now being distributed to all members, and Dr. Hayes has already submitted a draft list of contents for the 1978 issue which promises to have a great deal of interesting and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209379, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 36, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "14\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nboth continuity and smooth operation, the desire for both being a common reason for electing vice-officers. One of the committees listed above as having two vice-chairmen, did so because one of these officers was soon to move to another estate and the second would be available to take over the position after he left.\n\nIn June of 1982, a decision was made by the District Offices to add auditors as appointed members of the Mutual Aid Committees. This was done on the advice of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which believed that, although the MACs and their financial transactions were small, it was nevertheless a good idea to prevent any possible mishandling of funds.16 Any person living in the block who is not already an officer can become the auditor, but the MAC can, with the agreement of the residents, ask residents of other blocks to serve as their auditor. At the end of March, 1983, seventeen of the Mutual Aid Committees of Lok Fu Estate had appointed auditors, and one of these had also added a vice-auditor.\n\nThe largest committee in Lok Fu Estate, that of Block #15, has eight officers: one chairman, three vice-chairmen, two secretaries, one treasurer, and one vice-treasurer. The next largest, that of Block #12, operates with six officers: one chairman, two vice-chairmen, one secretary, and two treasurers. Block #19, the third largest, has also elected six officers: one chairman, two vice-chairmen, two secretaries and one treasurer. In size, these committees resemble the large scale MACs in Tze Wan Shan Estate, committees which have as many as eight to ten additional officers (Scott 1980:37). For example, the fifty-five member committee mentioned previously had fourteen officers altogether: one chairman, eight vice-chairmen, one secretary, two vice-secretaries, and one treasurer (Scott 1980:41).\n\nWhat are the duties of these officers? Of course, the chairman is the key officer, as he is the official representative of the MAC, convening the meetings, and acting on behalf of the residents when meeting with officials and representatives from the government. The vice-chairman, according to the 1982 Model Rules, is \"deputising the Chairman as and when necessary\" (City and New Territories Administration 1981:3). However, the vice-chairmen, acting in hand with the chairmen, sometimes", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209422, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 79, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "57\n\nany supporters to give his words more weight. In other words: there were no political parties which might have mustered support for one cause or another and through which persons not eligible to vote might have been represented at a Public Meeting.\n\nMoreover Public Meetings were in principle held only once a year to discuss matters of a financial and municipal nature. Only if there were other important affairs for which approval of the ratepayers was necessary, would more meetings be convened.\n\nAnd there lay the second defect, and a very glaring one when compared to parliamentary systems in Europe or America.\n\nApart from the annual meeting, the Municipal Council was irresponsible in the sense that it did not regularly have to answer questions about its policy.\n\nLikewise information about the sessions and policy making of the Municipal Council was considered too scarce and meaningless. Until 1860 no minutes were published if ever they were taken, which is not certain. It was only after the Herald, in its issue of October 13, 1860, had accused the Municipal Council of negligence with regard to a big fire on Nanking Road, that the newly appointed municipal secretary, Edwin Pickwoad, offered to release the council minutes for publication.\n\nFor a time the minutes, as well as committee reports and annual reports were published in the North China Herald, until in 1908 the Municipal Council decided to issue its own bulletin, the Shanghai Municipal Gazette, first in English only, but afterwards also in Chinese.\n\nBut the value of these minutes as a true insight into the decision-making process of the Municipal Council was doubted from a very early stage, when the North China Herald wrote on October 29, 1864, with regard to plans for improvement of the Bund: \"The very brief allusions which are contained in the minutes of the Municipal Council meetings to the subjects which have been discussed, are not always intelligible to general readers. In many instances the object of publishing minutes, which we presume is to afford information regarding the current Municipal affairs, is completely defeated by this brevity\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209837, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1983", "page_number": 96, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "74\n\n(4) The 'prestige' factor\n\nknowledgeable;\n\nthe wish to appear\n\n(5) The desire to show a spirit of good fellowship and\n\ncamaraderie, or a genuine wish to integrate.\n\nIn most cases, of course, we cannot isolate a single motive for the borrowing of a term. There is usually a mixture of motives. We have observed more than once that there seems to be no hard and fast rules governing the choice of method in the introduction of a new 'name'. Much depends on the caprice of the users of a language.\n\nIn our Appendix we have some 105 items; 23 of them, either because they are recent borrowings and/or because their currency is restricted to Hong Kong, have not been sanctioned by inclusion in any standard dictionary. The words include 'names' for various aspects of material and spiritual civilization. As might be expected, the largest number of loan words come from the field of food and beverages, ranging from tea through pak choi to tofu to dimsum and yumcha. A number of loans come from Chinese religious and philosophical beliefs, and range from established terms like taoism and zen and the much-abused pair yin and yang to fungshui to purely 'local' terms like Chung Yeung and Tin Hau and even Choy Sun (used in the local English media exclusively to mean the Financial Secretary.) There are quite a few borrowings relating to clan and social or other organizations, like tong and hoey13, and kuk as in Heung Yee Kuk and Po Leung Kuk, and sports and recreation, for example kungfu, tai chi, mahjong.\n\nCompiling a fairly exhaustive list of loan words in general use and supplying their etymologies and examples of uses are arduous and time-consuming tasks, but what is perhaps most interesting and thought-provoking, from the linguist's point of view, in the study of word borrowing, is the vexed question of what constitutes integration of the so-called loan words into the vocabulary.\n\nWhen I use terms like 'borrow', 'import' and 'loans' in discussions of lexical borrowing, in fact, these terms do not accurately describe the process by which, say, tea has become a 'borrowed' term. In this process new words may be added to the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210723, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 74, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "57\n\nRoyal Asiatic Society on July 4th 1848. Mr. Gutzlaff's suggestion, in the form of a letter to the Governor, was read to the Society on August 8th of that year, resulting in the suggestion \"that a committee be appointed to make enquiries as to the best site, the probable expenses etc. etc. and to report generally on the subject”. At a meeting of the Society, on November 7th later in the same year it was proposed, \"That the Garden Committee be authorized to draw up a memorial to the Colonial Government and to the Royal Asiatic Society for assistance, either by funds or otherwise, towards establishing a Botanical Garden in Hongkong; and also to correspond with such of the Botanical or Horticultural Societies in England as may be likely to assist in furthering the object in view.”\n\nThat the idea that a Public Botanical Garden in Hong Kong was generally discussed in both government and commercial circles about this time can be gleaned from the correspondence of one C.T. Braine, an employee of Dent & Co., a property firm, who offered his house, “Greenbank”, and its attendant garden to the government both as a suitable government house and as a well-stocked garden that was ripe for development and expansion as a public garden. Braine took the unusual step of writing on June 26th 1850, with his offer direct to Earl Grey as Secretary for State to the Colonies, who redirected Braine's letter to the Governor of Hong Kong for comment. The Governor, in turn, replied to Earl Grey on September 25th, 1850 emphatically refusing to accept either the grounds or the house as being suitable:\n\n\"In reply I beg to report to your Lordship that I cannot recommend the garden in question be taken over at the expense of the State, reference being had to the financial resources of the Colony, as well as to the absence of any person to whom it would be possible to confide the charge of such an establishment: it must be remembered moreover, that independently of the original cost of the ground, a Superintendent and several Assistants must of necessity be maintained at a permanent expenditure, which, I am satisfied, would in the end prove by no means inconsiderable.\n\nFrom Mr. Braine's letter I find he has informed your", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210726, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 77, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "60\n\n—\n\nD.A. GRIFFITHS AND S.P. LAU\n\nand it is to be got through the Press early in the issuing year. It will form one of the series of Floras of the British Colonies published under the sanction of H.M. Government and the general superintendence of Sir W.J. Hooker.\n\nFurther, and perhaps of more relevance in getting the gardens established, it is boldly stated in answer to Query no. 4 of June 28th 1860 \"No Botanical Garden exists in the colony\".\n\nThus although the scheme to establish a public Botanical Garden had been sanctioned by the Secretary of State in 1856, the proposal was held in limbo until Nov 30th 1861 when a sum of £269..10..6 was approved \"for the formation of Public Gardens”. A further sum of £4,371..2..6 was approved by the Governor, Hercules Robinson who explained the justification for such a large sum on the difficult topography of the chosen site.\n\n\"The amount proposed to be expended in this service is large, but the only ground available for a Public Garden in a suitable locality is situated on such a steep incline as to call for very special arrangements for carrying off the water from the hills. Drainage and a boundary wall constitute the chief items of the Estimate\".\n\nIt is obvious that Governor Robinson considered the formation of a public garden both an added attraction to the rapidly expanding city and, in addition, well within the financial resources of the Colony. He continues:\n\n\"I am of opinion that a portion of the large surplus revenue at present in hand, cannot be better expended than in carrying out this undertaking, which will contribute to the embellishment of the City of Victoria and the health and enjoyment of its inhabitants.”\n\nThe Duke of Newcastle's scribbled note appended to Robinson's submission on its arrival in London states:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210824, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 175, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "158\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nBritish Plenipotentiary, informed them that missionaries would not be welcomed at the Treaty Ports. British officials felt missionary efforts to convert Chinese would provoke the hostility of the mandarins and hinder the proper development of commerce and trade with foreigners.\n\nSir Henry maintained that the treaty extended only to commercial relations between Great Britain and China and not to religious activities.\n\nDuring the discussion about the Anglo Chinese College some of the missionaries were rather critical of Dr. Morrison and his work. This deeply hurt his son, John Robert Morrison, who had been invited to attend the Hongkong meeting by the Mission Society's directors in London. This did not please some of the missionaries in the field, for the young Mr. Morrison was not a missionary but had the office of Chinese Secretary in the Government. A disinterested observer who attended the meetings remarked: \"Indeed it seemed to be the studied purpose of some of them to cast discredit on Dr. Morrison by all means. John Morrison was affected to tears on learning of the way in which some of them spoke of his father.\"\n\nFortunately there was a peacemaker present, W.H. Medhurst, the observer remarked. “If it had not been for him, I fear there would have been unpleasant consequences.”\n\nThe outcome of all the troubled waters was that Dr. Legge was authorised to reopen the school in Hongkong, with four pupils in temporary quarters.\n\nFINDING A HOME FOR A COLLEGE\n\nIt was no easy task reestablishing the Anglo-Chinese College in Hongkong. A new student body had to be gathered, a site for a building obtained, the building erected, the new financial support arranged.\n\nThe Rev. James Legge, Principal of the school, had brought with him from Malacca only one student, an orphan boy he had taken into his family. Mrs. Legge had under her care a Chinese girl", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210890, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 241, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "224\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nSecretary of the On Tai Insurance Company. He remained at this post until his retirement in 1898.\n\nDuring these years he was involved in many other business ventures and in community affairs. He was an enterprising entrepreneur and financier, as well as a prominent public personality.\n\nThe organisation of the On Tai Insurance Co was one step in the latter part of the 19th century of the intrusion of Chinese into areas of commerce and finance formerly monopolised by foreign merchants.\n\nWith the introduction of steam vessels into the China trade, more and more Chinese firms began to ship by them rather than by junks. Insurance as practised in Western trade was not a feature of traditional Chinese business methods. The more progressive Chinese merchants, however, realised its value. They began to patronise the established marine and fire insurance companies.\n\nThese insurance companies were profitable ventures and paid substantial dividends to shareholders. The Chinese, however, found it difficult to acquire shares. They were shut out. The excuse was given that the companies could not determine the financial standing of prospective Chinese shareholders because of the secrecy and complicated arrangement of their firms.\n\nIn 1871 a group of Chinese merchants in Hongkong secured the services of the American firm of Olyphant and Co to assist them in organising the Chinese Insurance Company and in providing foreign management for it. At its organisation the board consisted of five foreign merchants and two Chinese.\n\nThe press recognised its formation as a revolutionary move in the balance between Chinese and foreign business in China. \"The step will mark an important era in the history of commercial affairs in China; as there can be very little doubt that the plan will be followed in other matters besides insurance. It is already well known that the Chinese merchants are large supporters of some of the most important companies, and their adoption of the plan of organising companies consisting avowedly chiefly of Chinese", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211194, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 255, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "230\n\npublic meeting, had to be abandoned after the official committee wrote to the Government about it.\n\nIn order to get an estimate of the cost to the public to complete the park, the committee asked \"to be furnished with a plan of the proposed park, with an estimate of probable cost and what proportion Government was willing to contribute.”\n\nThe Government rejected the offer of assistance from the public. The committee was reminded of the reply the Governor had given back in February, when the question of the jubilee was first raised.\n\nThe Government expected the public to initiate its own plans for the celebration. Now, however, it appeared the community was looking for a Government decision before it acted. The public should plan and carry through its own scheme independent of the Government.\n\nAs for the park, the committee was reminded it had already been approved by the Secretary of State as a Government venture, therefore, “His Excellency thinks it would not be right for him to suggest any alteration of that original proposal which was estimated to cost $25,000 and will be carried out as soon as the financial position of the Colony warrants the expenditure.”\n\nThe committee had little alternative but to resign, as it was impossible in the face of the Government's position to carry out the mandate given them to create a park as a jubilee memorial.\n\nCHINESE GO AHEAD WITH THEIR OWN MEMORIAL\n\nAs Hongkong's expatriates plunged into confusion over their plans to observe the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, the Chinese moved steadily forward with plans for their own project and bringing it to fruition.\n\nOne major reason the foreigners had reached an impasse was because they had not included the Chinese in the initial planning for the celebration. The co-operation of the Chinese was essential\n\nPage 255\n\nPage 256", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211292, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 8, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 17 March 1989\n\nThe year has seen a continued great increase in membership, a fuller and more varied programme of activities, more sales of our stock of publications, an improved (but still not satisfactory) financial situation, and a start to the work of the several new committees set up following acceptance at last year's AGM of recommendations stemming from the Symposium Report on the Future of the Society. Thanks to Phillip Bruce, I am also happy to table the Society's new brochure.\n\nI have fought unsuccessfully my tendency to be long-winded: but truly there is much to report, and I believe it will be of interest to those present tonight and to the wider audience reached through the Journal.\n\nMembership\n\nOur Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Bruce, reports that there are currently around 700 Local Members, plus 116 Overseas Members and 5 Institutional Members. There has thus been another big increase in the past year, with 41 since 1st January 1989 alone. The gains obviously greatly offset the losses, but there have been about 50-60 deletions owing to departures and longstanding non-payment of annual fees. The local \"Ordinary\" membership includes 129 Joint Members (258 persons), as well as 104 Life Members and 10 Student Members. Approximately three-quarters of the local membership lives on Hong Kong Island.\n\nProgramme\n\nDuring the year, the Activities Committee, continuing under Dr. Elizabeth Sinn's energetic and imaginative leadership gave us a record-breaking 11 talks, 8 local visits, one outside tour to Foshan, Guangdong, and a Chinese Dinner at City Hall and a Cocktail Party besides the Annual Dinner after the AGM. A full list of these events follows:\n\nProgramme Events\n\nApril\n\n9\n\n16\n\nTour of St. John's Cathedral (organiser: Mrs. Doreen King)\n\nDiscovery Central (tour: organiser Phillip Bruce)\n\nPage vii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211475, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 191, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "167\n\ngrades, graduating in June, 1932. In August of that year, she and mother accompanied me to China. Because Aunt Pong felt she could manage better in Shekki with the money from the sale of their home, she and the children left Honolulu on the Empress of Japan as we did. Uncle Pong remained in Honolulu. This was during the Depression when the exchange rate was favourable for United States currency.\n\nDora enrolled in the True Light Middle School, where I had accepted a teaching position, but when she found her inadequate knowledge of Chinese quite frustrating, she left after the first semester for Hong Kong, where Mother was living in First Paternal Uncle's Kennedy Road home. There she was tutored in Chinese by a Chinese teacher. In July, 1933, after a short visit to Shanghai and Hangchow, Mother and Dora returned to Honolulu on the President Hoover, to welcome Mother's first grandchild, Edmund Tong.\n\nFor the next three years, Dora studied at McKinley High School and after her graduation in June, 1936, she matriculated at the University of Hawaii, and received a B.A. degree in liberal arts. Then she went to the University of Chicago to do postgraduate social work. At the International House where she resided, she met Tso-chien Shen, a Vice-consul from China, and married him on 19 September, 1941. He was a native of Pi Hu Chen, Li Shui County, Chekiang Province, and a graduate of the University of Peking. An article, \"What Chinese Exclusion Really Means\" by him was published in 1942 by the China Institute in America. Dora soon became pregnant and became so ill that she could not finish her last quarter of study to earn a Master's degree. Their sons, both born in Chicago, are:\n\nEugene Tsu-wang I, born 7/5/42\n\nGilbert Tsu-shang I, born 2/3/46\n\nIn 1946 when Tso-chien was promoted to Second Secretary of the Chinese Legation in Manila, he had to leave his family behind, because his salary was too low. After 1949, Tso-chien started a chicken farm, with Paul Sim as his financial backer. However, in 1950 when he was found to be suffering from cancer, he sent for Dora, but by this time he was already in a terminal stage. Whereupon Dora returned to Mother's home and arranged to have him flown to Honolulu in December 1950", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212067, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 9, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "year as your President. Have we coped, you may ask? Well, I believe we have, and for this I need to thank my fellow councillors for the very loyal and hard work they have put into ensuring that the Society's affairs run in a smooth and on the whole organised way. In particular mention must be made of Elizabeth Sinn for arranging a varied programme of activities and lectures, Carl Smith, for his loyal and perceptive encouragement, Patrick Hase, for arranging interesting visits and editing the Journal (perhaps the most arduous duty), Robert Nield for keeping us on the right financial track, for our team of ladies, Evelyn Caldwell our Secretary, a post which really holds the Society together, Anita Wilson for doing the newsletter, and our Assistant Secretary, Sharon Bruce, also our Librarian Y.C. Wan, and all those other Council members and helpers who help to make this Society tick and move forward.\n\nSo what have we done and where do we stand? I will start with the Programme. During the year there were the following talks and visits:\n\nTalks:\n\nChang Tsong Zung\n\nPeter Leeds\n\nMichael Luk\n\nPeter Steyn\n\nJames Hayes\n\nWang Gungwu\n\nMiss May Wong\n\nAnne and Stephen Selby\n\nSister Beatrice Leung\n\nSusanna Hoe\n\nRichard Stott\n\nVisits\n\nHong Kong Art in the 80s\n\nHistory of Transport in Hong Kong\n\nThe Origins of Chinese Bolshevism\n\nMemories of India\n\nThe Libraries of the Royal Asiatic Societies in China\n\nWestern Scholarship, Asian Continuities\n\nChanging Lifestyle of Young Japanese Women\n\nPidgin English on the China Coast\n\nSino-Vatican Relations and the Recent Developments of the Chinese Catholic Church\n\nGin and Bridge All Day: Myths about Western Women in Hong Kong 1841-1941\n\nHong Kong Birds\n\nVisits were to Waglan Island, organized by Geoff Roper and Roger Perry, Wo Hang Mid-Autumn Festival visit organized by Dr. Patrick\n\nviii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212309, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 251, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "By the 1970s, it was no longer such a competitive and profitable organisation and its operations were scaled down. A purpose-built factory was completed on Tsing Yi island in 1991.\n\nAlthough the Swire Group over five generations has always had its head office in England, it has interests throughout Asia and the South Pacific, as well as in North America and Australia. Its China Navigation Company began operations on the Yangtze River in 1872. In World War II, more than half of Swire's ships were lost. A dockyard (of which more later) was established in Hong Kong at the turn of the century.\n\nThe group, which adopts a relatively low profile, has about 28,000 employees in 1988, and is the second largest employer in Hong Kong after the Government. Its complement included, up to 1990, 78-year old Madame Ho Sau-King who had worked at Taikoo Sugar Limited since 1928.\n\nIn 1981 John Bremridge (later Sir John), Taipan of Swire's, became Government Financial Secretary for a term of five years. This was an unprecedented appointment as previous 'FSs' had been promoted through the ranks of the civil service. Like the son of the founder of Swire's, Sir John Bremridge writes and speaks to the point”.\n\nThe conglomeration of interests of this (still largely) family firm and private limited company includes an elite collection of Hong Kong enterprises. Swire's has a controlling interest in Cathay Pacific Airways, founded in 1948, as well as in HAECO aircraft maintenance company. Property is also big business and about 45 per cent of the group's net asset value is in bricks and mortar. Other interests include container terminals, technology, engineering, air catering, investment banking, travel and general trading. Sir Adrian and Sir John Swire have a family fortune estimated at HK$6.3 billion, and in 1989 Sir John was quoted by the Sunday Times Magazine as being Britain's 12th richest person, a position he held jointly with his brother.\n\nDodwell's\n\nW.R. Adamson and Company (later, Adamson Bell and Company), the forerunner of Dodwell's, was founded as a result of the efforts of a group of Cheshire weavers who needed to increase supplies of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213038, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 106, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "86\n\nwas to promote the responsibility of District Committees, by requiring their 'joint charge and control over the whole range of the labours carried on by their individual members.' The medical mission work in China was already distinguished by local financial support and greater reliance was being placed on the local committee for hospital management and administration. Given these factors, the reply of the LMS Board of Directors is understandable.\n\nThe Chinese subscribers, 21 of the richest men in Hong Kong, therefore guaranteed a sum of $2,000 per annum for the lady doctor's salary, but added a condition: that she be available to treat the women of the subscribers' families in their own homes. As well, she would be required to spend her first year learning Cantonese in Hong Kong (rather than in Canton, where LMS language training was established), so that she could mix socially with the Chinese ladies and introduce to them Western hygiene and health care. Negotiations took several months, agreement reached in February, 1903, the delays attributed by the LMS Hong Kong Secretary, Mr. Pearce, to the inability of Dr. Ho to arrange a meeting of the subscribers. More likely, since the subscribers' money was essential, the delay was tactical, Dr. Ho certainly having been able to arrange their support very quickly initially.\n\nFor Dr. Gibson, pursuit of the project was important, because he feared that the Tung Wah Hospital, having introduced some Western medicine and by now handling obstetric cases, would threaten the viability of the Alice Hospital and thereby, the mission enterprise in Hong Kong, saying:\n\n·\n\n+\n\nI feel confident that the Directors of the LMS do not wish that our Missionary Institution should be behind a purely heathen Institution in making provision for the relief of suffering.\n\n18\n\nHis vision was at all times expansionary, having set up a clinic in Kowloon in 1901, in order to bring Western medicine to a wider public. In the event, he was obliged to accept a lady doctor on terms other than he would have wished. The repercussions of this were to affect the development of the service offered by the new AMMH and lead to the resignation of the lady doctor in 1909. From that point, supervision was fragmented until 1925, when Dr. Annie Sydenham took over the maternity hospital.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213041, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 109, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "89 \n\n+ \n\nThe reason given was the LMS financial position. Yet the fares, salary and expenses of the lady doctor had been guaranteed by the Chinese subscribers at a rate of $2,000 per annum on a five or six year contract basis. \"If there is the slightest prospect of a Lady who would be either self-supporting or supported privately I would prefer to wait a year even\" Dr. wrote to Mr. Cousins and, in a postscript added: 'Mr. Pearce has suggested a code of answer by telegram and I strongly recommend the Society's answer to be \"wait\". While saying that he saw a lady doctor as important for the credibility of the maternity hospital and claiming that she would be equal, his resistance to the type of appointment which was eventually made is clear. Dr. Gibson's position is consistent with his medical training and the social mores of his day. Edinburgh had been the site of strong resistance to female medical students, and the admission of women doctors to the British Medical Association was recent. As well as the 'nature' perception of women, the organisation of medical work itself was modelled on patriarchal family roles and relationships, wherein male doctors were dominant.\n\n10 \n\n申 \n\nDr. Sibree was warmly welcomed, however, began her language classes and was introduced to the Chinese subscribers and visited their wives. Dr. Gibson noted that she seemed ‘eminently fitted for the task which lies before her.'\" In June, 1904, the new six-bed hospital was opened.\n\nAlthough, as Paterson notes, Dr. Sibree's Annual Reports show the growth of the maternity work and midwifery training, her correspondence with the Joint Foreign Secretary of the LMS paints a different picture. Dr. Sibree, within six months of the hospital's opening, complained of lack of work and the LMS District Committee General Meeting of 1904 recorded support for her opening of a dispensary for women and children at Sham Shui Po to provide more work.\n\nThe problem appears to have been two-pronged. With respect to Chinese people, their knowledge of and therefore use of the maternity facilities was low, at an average of 1.5 patients per week in the early years. The wives of the Chinese subscribers also did not use her services, either because they were not in Hong Kong, were ignorant of the service, or were already patients of private doctors.\n\nThose we did see were in perfect ignorance of the whole scheme. Mr. Wells took a great deal of time and trouble in trying to explain", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213093, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 161, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "142\n\nimportance of an unexampled calamity. However in spite of difficulties in balancing the budget, many public works projects were completed during his term. He governed with a liberal-mind for he increased the number of unofficial seats in both the Legislative and the Executive Councils in response to a demand for reforming the government. He also agreed to have an unofficial majority on the Sanitary Board. Generally regarded as an able administrator he stayed for fully six years as Governor, the longest tenure held by any governor thus far. In the history of modern China, he would be remembered as the Governor of Hong Kong who imposed a five-year ban on Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who then went to London and was kidnapped but rescued by Sir James Cantlie but that is another story.\n\nSir James Stewart Lockhart, the main target of Lowson's attack, was Registrar General and acting Colonial Secretary in 1894. There is a biography of him written by Shiona Airlie entitled 'The Thistle and the Bamboo.' He emerged from it as a capable but ambitious man who was eager to seek promotion ahead of his time, and in spite of what Lowson said of him, he got on well with the Chinese. The function of a Registrar General in the early years was to deal with Chinese affairs, not legal matters as at present, in fact, the initial title was Protector of the Chinese. In this office, Lockhart maintained good relations with the directors of Tung Wah Hospital and Po Leung Kuk and the District Watch Committee, the three main representative bodies of the Chinese community. As to his character, he was said to possess 'humoured geniality which endeared him to his contemporaries' but 'occasionally his patience snapped and from a man considered in the main to be warm-hearted and genial, he became angry and stubborn.' He made at least one important contribution in connection with the Epidemic. After the Resumption of Tai Ping Shan Ordinance was passed, action had to be taken to demolish the old houses. Both landlords and tenants put up a spirited resistance as they both had to suffer financial loss, no rent to be collected by the landlords for sometime and no cheap lodgings for the tenants who were mostly coolies. The coolies threatened to go on strike which would paralyse the city in already very difficult circumstances. Lockhart, who was fluent in Chinese, having been a cadet in the Hong Kong Civil Service, was instrumental in solving the dispute which ended amicably. In 1895, at the age of thirty seven, he became Colonial Secretary when his acting appointment was substantiated. In addition, he was appointed as Special Commissioner for the New Territories in 1897 after the lease was settled. In 1902, he went to Weihaiwei as its first Civil Commissioner. On his departure the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213191, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1994", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "now no longer on the second floor of the Murray Road Car Park and last month some of the more important records were placed in a special room in the Central Government Offices West Wing and these are accessible to members of the public. The other records have been placed in Tuen Mun in, I believe, reasonable surroundings. However, more importantly it has been reported that the Government has agreed to build a special purpose building for Public Records in Kwun Tong. This is very good news even though the building is unlikely to be completed for another two or three years. I should again like to thank all those who helped in this campaign. One of the incidental results of the move of the Public Records is that the Society's stock of journals which were there (rather surreptitiously I may add) is now temporarily (I hope) stored in the library of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. And in this connection I hope you will have a good look and buy some of these back journals at the back of the room,\n\nPublications, visits, lectures and other educational activities are the ingredients of the Society and what makes it move. However none of these can work well unless there is a satisfactory administration to back it up. The Society has been fortunate in the people who help in this direction. We have our Treasurer, Mr. Robert Nield, who helps us (even orders us!) to keep on the right financial track; he will tell us later that the Society's finances are in reasonable shape and we will not need to raise our subscriptions in January 1996, but may well need to do so in January 1997. Our Secretary, Mr. David Sheil keeps us in order at our Committee meetings and even from his Lamma outpost. Our Assistant Secretaries - you will note I have said Secretaries rather than Secretary, because we have had two in the last year. Mrs. Sharon Bruce who served in this capacity for eight years did a splendid job - her sympathetic listening and quiet efficiency served the Society extraordinarily well. Unfortunately she left in December and her position has been taken over by Mr. Martin Barnett. We welcome him; he promises to professionalise us, but not, I hasten to add, too much. He has already put our membership records on computer thereby giving us more information on the profile of our members than we ever had in the past.\n\nLastly, I think it would be useful to give some thought for the future. The Society by nature caters very much for the local amateur and professional academic interested in local affairs covering a wide range of interests, from political and social history, anthropological matters, archaeology, architecture, geography, and many other matters which stimulate the mind. This is how it should be. However, we cannot be\n\nXI1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213972, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1997", "page_number": 41, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "6\n\nordinary people could play a greater part in their own local affairs without \"rocking the boat,\" and so strengthen what was still in the 1960s a nebulous sense of identity with Hong Kong as something more than a dependent entrepôt.\n\nBill Dickinson had come to Hong Kong from West Africa as a man of good report with capacity for high office, widely experienced in local government and as right-hand man to the deputy governor of the Gold Coast (now Ghana). It may be thought that he made insufficient effort to affect the outward manners of a society that regarded itself as more sophisticated than an officer who preferred to wear khaki shorts in summer; he was generally seen as a stranger from a dark continent, and though well-liked did not move in élite circles. As Clerk of Councils and a Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary, he had held positions which gave knowledge but little power. Sir David Trench found in him an appropriate officer to assist in solving his dilemma. On 29 April 1966, he appointed Dickinson to chair a working party with the following (typically for Hong Kong detailed) terms of reference:\n\nTo explore and advise on practicable alternatives for the development of an effective and convenient system of local administration in Hong Kong which will take account of the size and complexity of the existing Urban Areas, the planned creation of new towns in the New Territories, and the different stages and development in the rural areas, with particular regard to—\n\n(a) the types of local authority which might be established and the criteria which might govern their establishment;\n\n(b) their possible composition, and the various methods of selection and tenure of office of members which might be considered;\n\n(c) the powers and functions they might have;\n\n(d) possible sources of revenue and financial powers;\n\n(e) their staff and the means by which their functions might be carried out;", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214390, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 248, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "214\n\nceeded one hundred and the same year two District Watchmen were deployed to work in the emigration sub-division of the Registrar General's Department. During 1910 and 1911 it was felt necessary to employ 124 District Watchmen of different ranks but in 1912 the number was reduced to one hundred and remained unchanged until 1924.\n\nExpansion into Kowloon\n\nSince its formation in 1866 the District Watch Force had operated only on Hong Kong island. In May 1915 this changed when the new District Watchmen Station at Yaumati was opened and six District Watchmen were 'sent over.' In 1913, following the addition of a Cadet officer to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, the Government decided to expand the duties of the District Watchmen to include work connected with the registration of householders under the Registration of Chinese Ordinance. Perhaps the Government felt some apprehension that those responsible for paying for the Watchmen's services might balk at the addition of these duties because the Financial Secretary, in presenting this matter to the Legislative Council, maintained that this work 'if efficiently carried out should be of great value in checking serious crime in the Colony.' It is also clear from this speech that these extra responsibilities had required the expansion of the Force into Kowloon.19 Despite the fact that Legislative Councillors were only advised about these additional duties in October 1913, it is clear from the Annual Report of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs that the District Watchmen had begun making house calls in connection with the registration campaign at the beginning of May 1913. Daily reports were made by the Chief District Watchmen to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs and the Police were informed immediately about the large number of opium divans and sly brothels which the District Watchmen's investigations uncovered. Thus, once again, the Hong Kong Government appropriated men from this privately funded organization to carry out work which was essentially public in nature.\n\nBetween 1897 and 1918 the District Watchmen continued to patrol on police beats under the supervision of European police. The following year saw an important change in the supervision of the District Watch Force, one that would bring its members into even closer contact with the regular police. At the end of 1919 Police Sergeant Timo-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215041, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 137, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "93\n\nWaters, D. D: The Chinese labour Corps in the First World War : Labourers buried in France : Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society: Vol. 35 : 1995\n\nThe Commonwealth War Graves Commission,\n\n2 Marlow Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 7DX\n\nUnited Kingdom\n\nTel: 44-1628 634221 Fax: 44-1628 771208\n\nImperial War Museum\n\nNOTES\n\n1\n\n3\n\nLambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ Tel. 020 7416 5000\n\nLiang Shiyi (1869-1933). Chinese government official and financier. Under the Qing government, amongst his financial dealings, he helped found the Bank of Communications (1907). He was President of the Board of Communications (1912), Chief Secretary in the Presidential Office and General Manager of the Bank of Communications, acting Finance Minister (1913-1915); Director-General of the National Revenue Administration and Director-General of the Domestic Loans Office. He was linked with Yuan Shikai and in 1916 fled to Hong Kong. He formed the Wei Min Corporation for the recruitment of Chinese labourers to serve in France, as a proponent of China's entry into the war. Returning to Beijing in 1918, he was made Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Communications; Speaker of the National Assembly; Director of the Domestic Loan Bureau (1920); and Prime Minister (1921-1922). After exile (1922-1925) he again served in the Beijing Government under both Duan Jirui and Zhang Zuolin. He retired to Hong Kong in 1928 after the Northern Expedition reached Beijing.\n\nThis was usually referred to by “real” soldiers as the Crosse and Blackwells, as this British provision company had a very similar crest.\n\nLt Col. Bryan Charles Fairfax, a Yorkshireman, was born on 12th September 1873, the second son of Col. T.F. (or L?) Fairfax of the Grenadier Guards and passed through the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, being commissioned on 8th March 1893 into the Durham Light Infantry (DLI). He was posted to the 2nd Battalion, then serving in India. In 1898 he volunteered for service with the newly raised 1 Battalion, The Chinese Regiment of Infantry, stationed in Weihai", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215165, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 261, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "221\n\nMetratoA LEGGE DAN K\n\n# A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong\n\nAs the first member of staff of a technical institute, I was officially appointed as founding Principal of MHTI in July 1968, more than one year before it opened in borrowed premises. This was the planning period. The initial cost of building the Morrison Hill Technical Institute was around $4.0 million plus $3.0 million for equipment, all donated by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, although there were other, much smaller, donations.\n\nLooking at these and other figures one can see how costs have shot up over the past 30 to 40 years, although technical education has also, agreed, become far more sophisticated. For various reasons the completion of the MHTI building was delayed and, as mentioned at the start of this paper, the Institute did not start classes in its new building until 1970. Earlier on, consideration was given to calling it the 'Wan Chai Technical Institute' but some officials in the Government Education Department Headquarters felt, in those days, this would have given it a 'Suzie Wong' image. Consequently, it was named the Morrison Hill Technical Institute. As you know it was officially opened 30 years ago today, on 12 October 1970, by the then Governor the late Sir David Trench.\n\nI was pleased it was a hot day. After the ceremony Sir John Cowperthwaite, who has gone down in history as a capable Financial Secretary and a law unto himself, came up to me mopping his brow. 'Principal', he said, 'I'll see you get this hall air-conditioned!'. In spite of his promise it was many years and countless memoranda later before it actually was. I am talking of an institute where, in 1970, one of the few air-conditioned rooms was the Principal's office and this was because an overseas advisor had been persuaded to write it into his report. Administrative Officers talked dismally at the time of creating ‘a dangerous precedent with other institutions jumping on the bandwagon'.\n\nLooking around in the vicinity of MHTI: quarry men started blasting away in 1926 at the solid granite hill on which the Morrison Hill Mission Society building originally stood. The Hill was not totally levelled until around 1970", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215198, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 294, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "258\n\nFrom 1964, she has been a full-time writer of autobiography/history, fiction, and sociopolitical essays/written testimonies. She once said: 'I write as an Asian, with all the pent-up emotions of my people. What I say will annoy many people who prefer the more conventional myths brought back by writers on the Orient. All I can say is that I try to tell the truth. Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures.' She was acquainted with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. She presently lives with Vincent in Lausanne, Switzerland and is also known as Elizabeth C.K. Comber.\n\nHan Suyin and her husband with Zhou Enlai, 19708\n\nJan Morrison was born in May 1913 and was the son of the well-known Australian doctor and journalist (first Peking correspondent for The Times of London, 1897-1912) George Ernest Morrison (1862-1920). He was schooled at Winchester, England and was a graduate of the University of Cambridge. After going down from Cambridge, he became Professor of English at the Imperial University of Hokkaido, Sapporo.\n\nHe visited China in 1937, for the first time, to 'watch the Japanese occupation of Tientsin and the invasion of north China.' Later that year he became private secretary to the newly appointed British Ambassador to Japan, in Kyoto. In 1939, he went to Shanghai and became the representative in China of The British and Chinese Corporation, a London financial house. He traveled extensively throughout China for the next two years.\n\nHe arrived in Singapore in October 1941 and became deputy director of the Far Eastern Bureau of the (U.K.) Ministry of Information.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215293, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 70, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "Though the 1934 interdepartmental committee report had not been officially approved by the cabinet, the Colonial Office regarded it as an authoritative guide to policy. Governors were instructed to refer all proposals for industrial development to London before any changes to tariffs or excise duty were submitted to legislative councils, or any promises of financial or other assistance were made to the promoters of the project. Entrepreneurs also approached the Colonial Office directly with their own schemes for industrial development. Officials examined the proposal to see if it was economically sound. Normally the Board of Trade was consulted for advice as to whether British exports would be adversely affected. Expert advice was sometimes obtained from outside government. If the colony was receiving a grant from Britain to balance its budget, the views of the Treasury were sought. The general attitude of the Colonial Office was an exceedingly cautious one, but if the project appeared to be economically viable, officials did not feel justified in preventing its development.\n\nWhen a proposal was rejected by the Colonial Office, a governor could still protest at the decision, arguing that the special circumstances of his colony should be taken into account. Governors often submitted counterproposals suggesting a lower protective tariff or a different mix of financial incentives to enable the project to go ahead. Governors were insistent on the need for industrial development, and the Colonial Office was always very reluctant to overrule a governor who persisted in pressing his views on what was in the best interests of his colony. In 1936, the colonial secretary wrote to the chancellor of the exchequer suggesting that the cabinet should reconsider the 1934 Report, so that when writing to governors, he could refer to the principles laid down in the report as having the authority of the whole government. The Federation of British Industries had also written to the Treasury complaining about competition from dominion and colonial manufacturers which enjoyed free entry into the British market. Treasury officials believed that the Colonial Office was too ready to sanction the establishment of industries in the colonies which might adversely affect British exports, ignoring the fact that Britain bore the whole cost and responsibility for the Royal Navy and colonial defence.68\n\nA new committee was set up, which, unlike the 1933 committee, included representatives from the Treasury and the Bank of England. It met for the first time in February 1937. The committee tried to formulate general principles, but found that in every case they examined, special considerations could be adduced to justify the new industrial development. For example, a brewery in the Gold Coast which competed with imported British beer was defended by the governor as a means to turn the natives away from gin and neat drinks to (cheaper) beer; the capital investment of £250,000 would be", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215294, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 71, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "19\n\nvery useful in the depression, and the factory would provide employment for 100 Africans.\" Hong Kong was also seen as a special case where the decline of the entrepôt trade with China justified the policy of fostering industrial development. After much discussion the only specific recommendation made by the committee was that when a protective tariff was granted an excise duty equivalent to the import duty should always be imposed. The final report of the committee was never published and apparently was never considered by the cabinet.\n\nSo the Colonial Office continued to vet proposals for new industries according to the guidelines laid down in the 1934 Report, that manufacturing should not be 'artificially encouraged'. Officials were concerned to safeguard colonial revenues at a time when most colonies were in financial difficulties as a result of the world depression. The Colonial Office insisted that budgets must be balanced, to avoid the need for a grant from the British government and the consequent Treasury control of the colony's finances. The Colonial Office had no money available in its own account to subsidise ingenious schemes, such as a project put forward by an entrepreneur from Trinidad to produce newsprint paper from bagasse and to power the factory with anhydrous alcohol distilled from sugar cane juice.70 Governors could apply for funds from the Colonial Development Advisory Committee which provided £36,500,000 for development assistance from 1929 to 1939. But this fund was originally set up to alleviate unemployment in Britain and no application for industrial development would be entertained which would be likely to compete with British industry.? Officials believed that by discouraging uneconomic industrial development they were acting in the best interests of the native inhabitants. An assistant secretary minuted, 'Manufacturing industry, which can be established in a colony only at the price of a monopoly protected by a high tariff, ends in producing a locally manufactured article which is too expensive for the primary agricultural producers to buy.' Governors were more suspicious of the motives of Colonial Office officials. The governor of Sierra Leone complained that any industrial project was approached from the standpoint that British trade interests must rank first, dominions' interests second and those of the colonies last. Perhaps the fairest summary of Colonial Office policy was made by a junior official: 'Generally speaking we do not want to encourage industrial development in the colonial empire, but we are reluctant to go so far as actually to prohibit it.'\"\n\nWhy then was it that Hong Kong was able to develop a flourishing export-oriented industry without any subsidy or assistance from the colonial government whatsoever when in all the other dependent territories the development of manufacturing industry was derisory, and the few factories that were established were heavily dependent on protective tariffs, special", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215298, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 75, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "23\n\n45. Cabinet Minutes, 6 June 1934, 23(34)6, 13 June 1934, 24(34)6, 3 Oct. 1934, 33(34)5, CAB23/79, PRO.\n\n46. Confidential Circular Despatch, June 1934, CO323/1298/10 and CO854/175.\n\n47. Colonial Office to Governor Hong Kong, 6 April 1934, CO323/1298/11.\n\n48. Information from R.R. Todd, an administrative officer in Hong Kong 1924-56, interviewed in 1986.\n\n49. CO323/1298/11. CO852/16/10.\n\n50. CO852/219/13.\n\n51. Circular Despatches, 13 April 1934, and 15 May 1934, CO854/175.\n\n52. Havinden and Meredith, 188-90. Governor Hong Kong to Colonial Office, 2 May 1934, CO323/1290/6.\n\n53. Circular Despatch, 19 Sept. 1936, CO854/170.\n\n54. Governor Jamaica to Colonial Office, 6 July 1936 and 11 Aug, 1936, CO852/51/9. Governor Jamaica to Colonial Office, 3 June 1937, CO852/106/19.\n\n55. An Economic Survey of the Colonial Empire, HMSO Colonial No 95 (London, 1934), 137. Economic Survey Col. 109, 170; Economic Survey Col. 126, 170. Hong Kong Trade Statistics 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935.\n\n56. Circular Despatch, 13 March 1933, CO323/1230/11.\n\n57. Letters and Memorandum from Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in Caldecott to Colonial Office, 25 July and 4 Aug. 1936, CO852/51/9. McKenzie (Custom House) to Eastwood (Colonial Office), 18 Sept 1936. Rydderch (Custom House) to Colonial Office, 26 Feb. 1937, CO852/107/1.\n\n58. In 1936 exports of electric flashlight torches totalled HK$2,930,000, including India HK$595,000, Netherlands East Indies HK$379,000, and Britain HK$167,000. Hong Kong Trade Returns 1936.\n\n59. Minutes on Caldecott to Clauson, 15 Oct. 1936, CO852/51/9. Clauson commented: 'It is all too seldom we get from a colonial governor so thoughtful and comprehensive a review of the future of the colony he governs.'\n\n60. Officer Administering Government, Hong Kong to Colonial Office, 30 Sept. 1937, with enclosures, CO853/109/5. King (Board of Trade) to Eastwood (Colonial Office), 13 Nov, 1937, CO852/109/5.\n\n61. Circular Despatch, 2 June 1937, CO854/176.\n\n62. Memorandum by Hamilton (Superintendent of Imports and Exports Hong Kong), 22 April 1937 CO852/106/19. Hong Kong Trade Returns 1937.\n\n63. Circular Despatch, 24 Feb. 1938, CO854/177.\n\n64. Minute by Caine (Financial Secretary Hong Kong 1937-39), 24 Jan. 1940, CO852/215/3. Gas masks, CO129/580/9. Aircraft assembly, CO129/571/15 and CO129/580/4.\n\n65. Hong Kong Blue Book 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940.\n\n66. Calculations made as in note 5 from Hong Kong Trade Returns 1938 omitting all raw materials, unprocessed agricultural products and exports of banknotes (valued at HK$36,000,000).\n\n67. Clausen described the policy of the Colonial Office in these words when speaking at a meeting of the Overseas Trade Development Council, 31 July 1935, CO852/16/7.\n\n68. Colonial Office to Neville Chamberlain, 15 Jan. 1936. Federation of British Industries to Warren Fisher, 14 Feb. 1936. Minutes in Treasury file T160/763/F14811/1.\n\n69. Minutes of the second meeting of the committee, 23 April 1937, T160/763/F14811/1.\n\n70. CO852/16/13, The inventor approached the Colonial Office directly and officials referred the project to the governor of Trinidad. The governor appointed a committee which doubted if the project was feasible. The Colonial Office received a number of similar proposals in the 1930s. Often the entrepreneur was eager to set up a factory provided that he was granted a high protective tariff, an exclusive license, part of the capital costs, subsidised freight rates and other financial privileges. In effect the businessman was asking the colonial government to bear all the risks while he would enjoy the profits if the project was successful. See for example CO852/16/9, a proposal to set up a factory in Nyasaland to process sisal into binder twine. An official commented that this was a last desperate attempt by a bankrupt farmer to keep his own sisal estates going.\n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216108, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 407, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "341\n\ncommunity at all levels. It was not just the big guys.\n\nThe late Sir Murray (later Lord) MacLehose, Governor from 1971 to 1982, soon appreciated the problem, Hong Kong has him to thank for setting up the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), in 1974. It was a bold step but it has been effective.\n\nFor me personally, during my career with Government, I was never directly affected by corruption in any shape or form. Nevertheless, one needs to ask when does tipping and present-giving stop and when does corruption begin?\n\nPersonalities\n\nPeople and personalities have played important parts in Hong Kong's history. Sir John Cowperthwaite, Financial Secretary (FS) from 1961 to 1971, although very successful, worked more on an ad hoc basis than his successors. He saw limited need to collect statistics which would (he believed) encourage government to draw up economic plans and interfere in the private sector and the free movement of market forces. He believed government should not ‘get involved.'\n\nYet, in spite of the post of FS being stressful, many of them were a long-lived breed. Some who served Hong Kong either before or just after World War Two carried on drawing their pensions into their nineties. A great deal of credit must go to our past Financial Secretaries for helping to lay foundations for the Hong Kong we know today.\n\nConclusions\n\nCertainly the 1950s and the '60s were eventful decades and, during the latter part of the 1960s and '70s especially, Hong Kong made strides in leaving its colonial past behind. It took on a new mantle. Many things surreptitiously changed.\n\nEntire skylines altered dramatically every decade or so. In the 1960s, Tsing Yi Island was being considered for the site for a nudist colony. Now it is heavily built upon. From 1857 until 1975 we had a cricket pitch in the centre of town. Gracious, old, colonial style buildings were torn down, We needed those to depend upon for the reassurances", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216130, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 429, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "363\n\nIn 1957, with the generous support of Mr. R.E. Lawry (Honorary Secretary), the British Council in Gloucester Building became the home of the Society where it held its meetings and lectures to members. The Library's collection was accordingly kept in the British Council's Library. But shortage of space soon became a problem which necessitated the splitting of the collection. Mr. H.A. Ryding, the then Hong Kong University Librarian as well as the Society's Honorary Librarian, extended an offer to house some of the rarer volumes and the growing stock of exchange periodicals. This unsatisfactory division of the Library persisted after the closure of the British Council Library in 1975 when all the books were moved to the Public Records Office Library with the kind permission of the Government Archivist, while the periodicals (current and bound volumes) and pamphlets were sent to the Hong Kong University Library.\n\nIn 1977, when the Society joined the newly built Hong Kong Arts Centre as a constituent member, it was able to rent a small room for use of members and place its growing collection in the Kotewall Library within the Centre. The Hong Kong Arts Centre is a privately funded body dedicated to the promotion of culture and performing arts. Its focal position for the arts in Hong Kong together with the great efforts of the Honorary Librarian, Mr. Ryding, resulted in a spectacular increase in the use of the Library. The collection also grew rapidly through enthusiastic contributions from members. Unfortunately, in 1985, prompted by financial considerations, the Arts Centre reorganised and the Society had to move.\n\nWith the help of the Hong Kong Library Association, the Society's Library found a new home in 1985, on permanent loan to the Urban Council's Kowloon Central Library, the newest and largest addition to the Urban Council's Public Library Service at that time. The event was marked with an exhibition, in November 1987, of the Society's collection of books on China and Hong Kong with a supporting series of talks to publicise the valuable collection. A catalogue of the exhibited collection was also compiled and published for the occasion.4\n\nIn 1994, recognising the need for a central location for members to use the books effectively, the Chief Librarian of the Urban Council, Mr. Michael Mak, agreed to members' petition to relocate the books to the Reference Library at the Hong Kong City Hall, when the High\n\n363", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]